Oxford High is in. Now the work begins. In what was described by Naugatuck High athletic director and Naugatuck Valley League president Tom Pompei as a "close to unanimous vote," Oxford will join the NVL beginning with the fall season of 2014. The NVL athletic directors met and voted Thursday.

The Wolverines will become the 15th school in the conference.

"It seems like this was something that was meant to be," Pompei said. "Someone made a reference to the sign that you see on Route 8 about the All-American Valley, with Ansonia, Derby, Seymour, Naugatuck, Prospect, Beacon Falls and Oxford."

Pompei called Oxford "a natural fit. They are part of the Valley. They have natural geographic rivals. It is a smaller school that is strong and growing."

The NVL will now break into three divisions. Here is how the schools will line up:

Division A: Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, St. Paul, Seymour.

Division B: Crosby, Holy Cross, Kennedy, Sacred Heart, Wilby.

Division C: Naugatuck, Torrington, Watertown, Wolcott, Woodland.

The divisions do not yet have names.

"That is for the next meeting," Pompei said. "We've had very preliminary talks on that."

Pompei said that the popular NVL championship tournaments will continue, but that formats are still being ironed out to determine how teams qualify for tourney play.

"It could be the division winners, plus the schools with the next five best records," he said, "or the two top teams from each division, with the next two best records. That is still being discussed."

The NVL championship football game is in jeopardy of being eliminated, however. Pompei said that a football decision will be announced soon.

Oxford School Superintendent Timothy F. Connellan noted that the application process to the NVL began well before he became the district chief, but said, "The feeling was that Oxford is a unique part of the Valley. It wasn't that we didn't want to participate in the South-West Conference, but that we would be more appropriately placed in the NVL."

Oxford's current high school population is 595 students. Only Derby, Sacred Heart and St. Paul have smaller enrollments.

Oxford is "more comparable in size and proximity" to NVL schools, added Connellan, with natural rivalries already in place with Seymour and other lower Valley schools.

"When they looked at the pros and cons, the decision was made by the (school) board to go in this direction," Connellan said. "It is in the best interest of students and families."

The final divisional structure in the new NVL is based on school size, location, natural rivalries and competitive balance.

"They were determined by size, more or less," Pompei said, "but a bunch of factors were considered."

The Waterbury city schools wished to maintain city championship possibilities.

"They are excited that the city championships remain as is," Pompei said of the city division, known at the moment as Division B. "It is important to the city schools. This makes it clean for them to be in one division."

Division A nits together schools with similar enrollment numbers and, to a large extent, shared borders. Division C groups the larger of the remaining schools.

"Some of us are really excited about three divisions," Pompei said. "The Valley schools are thrilled to have Oxford in the mix, and we have maintained the rivalries that are in the NVL right now.

"All the schools that make up the NVL know each other well, and we have a lot of nice rivalries. Oxford may have been missing that piece. Now I think they can develop rivalries that will generate community interest."

The ever-evolving Naugatuck Valley League must now find a way to take 15 parts and fit them together into one workable athletic conference. It won't be easy. There's no doubt some athletic directors and coaches will howl from time to time.

But know this: Oxford kids are Valley kids, and the Valley is where they belong.

" The headline is a bit misleading, because there are "Oxford athletes" in a few sports (boys' lacrosse. wrestling and volleyball) who will now become part of a league that doesn't even offer those sports as a league competition. What will those Oxford athletes now do? "

" It also seems this move was made for "football reasons." But considering the proposed division format change, teams in that sport will now play more games against opponents outside the division (than inside) over the course of a season. (At least in current NVL format, schools played more divisional opponents each season ... like every other sport.) How does this new addition make any kind of sense/reason to revise yet again (third time in seven years) resulting in an uneven number of schools and odd/awkward division arrangements? "

" Agreed that this is a good move and long overdue. Oxford wasn't a natural fit with in the SWC and probably should have never been in that league. The high school is less than a decade old and now their athletic department has to start all over again in a new league. All because newcomers to town during the Oxford housing and building boom of the last 15 years wanted to maintain their ties to Fairfield County......

One thing that stands out in the new alignment, St. Paul-Bristol just doesn't fit in division A. It's quite a distance away from the other schools and it's not in the "lower Valley." Why not switch it with Woodland in Beacon Falls? It's only a few miles from Oxford and Seymour. This would make a lot more sense.

Also, the "All-American Valley" sign actually reads Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Derby, Oxford, Naugatuck, Seymour, and SHELTON. Having Shelton in the NVL would complete everything! It's enrollment is up there with Naugatuck, Torrington, and the Waterbury schools. It would bring even more competition and add to the natural rivalries here. Cheshire and Pomperaug would also be something to think about in the future. But Oxford is definitely a good start. "

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